Addresses

Career

Staff writer for Nature, 1970-75; University of Sussex, Brighton, England, member of science policy research unit, 1975-78. Physics consultant to New Scientist, 1978-98; University of Sussex, visiting fellow in astronomy, 1992—.

Member

Honors Awards

Award from Gravity Research Foundation, 1970, for study of the nature of superluminous astronomical objects; National Award from Association of British Science Writers, 1974, for writings on climatic change, and 1991; first prize from Griffith Observatory (Los Angeles, CA), 1982, for report on astronomical discoveries pertaining to the shrinking of the sun.

The Death of the Sun, illustrated by Neil Hyslop, Delacorte/Delta (New York, NY), 1980, published as The Strangest Star: The Scientific Account of the Life and Death of the Sun, Fontana (London, England), 1980.

Carbon Dioxide, Climate, and Man, Earthscan (London, England), 1981.

Genesis: The Origins of Man and the Universe, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1981.

Contributor to British Broadcasting Corp. and British Forces Radio. Contributor to newspapers and periodicals, including New Scientist, Guardian, London Times, Analog, and Science Digest.

Sidelights

Beginning his writing career in the mid-1970s, British astronomer and author John Gribbin, one of the most popular science writers of his generation, has penned books on numerous newsworthy science-based issues, from books about the nature of time, weather, evolution, and quantum physics to biographies of scientists such as Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, and Stephen Hawking, to books for younger readers, the last on which he often collaborates with his wife, Mary Gribbin. In addition to fueling public interest in news-worthy topics through such nonfiction titles as Unveiling the Edge of Time: Black Holes, White Holes, Worm-holes and the popular In Search of Schroedinger's Cat, a work explaining the role of quantum physics in life on Earth, Gribbin has also penned a number of science-fiction novels that echo his concern with natural disasters and evolutionary theory and have been praised for their scientific accuracy and their fast-moving plots.

In the nonfiction title This Shaking Earth Gribbin argues that the Earth is less stable than was previously assumed, and that the population is consequently more vulnerable to catastrophe. Continental drift, Gribbin contends, can produce incredible disasters, including earthquakes and volcanoes that may dwarf mankind's feats of destruction such as war and pollution. In the New York Times, Harold M. Schmeck, Jr. wrote that "When many Americans seem to blame all the ills of humanity on human causes—including, notably, too much procreation and too little concern for the environment—a book like this makes fascinating reading."

Gribbin moves from the firmament to the heavens in Weather Force, which explores the origins of extreme events, or "freak weather." Timewarps examines the history of man's rendering of time, reviews Einstein's theories of relativity, and discusses the possibility of devices proposed in science fiction, such as dream telepathy and time travel. Reviewing these books and others, critics have consistently praised the scientist for making concepts such as time travel understandable to the general reader. In his review of Gribbin's Unveiling the Edge of Time for the New York Times Book Review, Hans Christian von Baeyer wrote that the author's "thought-provoking book is written in the smooth, easy style of professional science journalism. Simple line drawings, a glossary and a short bibliography help to give the reader the secure feeling of being in the hands of a competent guide through perplexing territory."

Gribbin's novel The Sixth Winter, co-written with Douglas Orgill, focuses on a new ice age, while Double Planet follows an attempt to provide the Moon with its own atmosphere by causing a newly discovered comet to crash into it. Father to the Man tells about a scientist's attempt to perfect the human race through genetic manipulation. When human misuse of the environment leads to a worldwide catastrophe, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist undertakes the task of altering the human species
by crossing a pygmy chimpanzee with a human. "The utter asininity of humanity gets its comeuppance quite nicely," explained Tom Easton in Analog.

Among Gribbin's biographies are books on two of the most important twentieth-century physicists: Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. In the collaborative Einstein: A Life in Science, co-author Michael White describes Einstein's personal life, while Gribbin explains his theories in light of current scientific thinking. "Gribbin's metaphors and analogies fairly propel you toward understanding," declared New York Times Book Review contributor Robert Kanigel. Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science profiles the most well-known modern theoretical physicist.

A more historic figure is discussed in FitzRoy: The Remarkable Story of Darwin's Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast, which Gribbin coauthored with his wife, Mary Gribbin. Captain Robert FitzRoy of the HMS Beagle which took evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin on his history-making voyage, is also remembered as the man who designed the first weather station system, comprising a barometer and thermometer. A complex man who ironically refuted Darwin's theories and ultimately committed suicide at age sixty, FitzRoy also developed a system of warning signals for bad weather that would save numerous lives during the late nineteenth century.

Perhaps Gribbin's most ambitious biography is The Scientists: A History of Science Told through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors, which covers 500 years of Western scientific discovery through the lives of the individuals that added to the breadth of human scientific knowledge. The book was praised by Library Journal reviewer James Olson as "well written and scholarly" as well as "accessible, if not downright entertaining, for the general reader," while a Publishers Weekly reviewer dubbed The Scientists a "remarkably readable popular history."

In Search of Schroedinger's Cat is the first part of a trilogy that examines, according to Gribbin, "the role of quantum physics in determining the nature of our universe, life, and everything." Continuing to convey his enthusiasm about science in other nonfiction works for general readers, Gribbin has also fueled the interests of younger readers with such books as Big Numbers, about mathematical theory, Time and Space, and How Far Is Up? Measuring the Size of the Universe, all written with his wife.

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Widely praised, Gribbin's highly readable 2002 history spans the advances in Western scientific knowledge as it plays out through the lives of individual men and women: from the Italian Renaissance and Copernicus to the Atomic Age and Albert Einstein.

St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers, fourth edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.

PERIODICALS

American Libraries, October, 1984, review of In Search of Schroedinger's Cat, p. 622.

Booklist, April 1, 1986, review of The Breathing Planet, p. 1104; June 1, 1986, review of In Search of the Big Bang, p. 1423; July, 1988, review of The Hole in the Sky, p. 1763; August, 1989, review of Cosmic Coincidences, p. 1932; May 15, 1990, review of Hothouse Earth, p. 1761; September 15, 1990, review of Hothouse Earth, p. 105; May 1, 1992, Gilbert Taylor, review of Stephen Hawking, p. 1573; September 15, 1992, Gilbert Taylor, review of Unveiling the Edge of Time, p. 108, p. 132; June 1, 1993, Gilbert Taylor, review of In the Beginning, p. 1752; February 1, 1994, Denise Perry Donavin, review of Einstein, p. 985; December 1, 1994, Donna Seaman, review of In the Beginning, Stephen Hawking, and Unveiling the Edge of Time, p. 644; April 15, 1995, Gilbert Taylor, review of Schroedinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality, p. 1461; December 1, 1995, Karen Simonetti, review of Darwin, p. 615; April 1, 2000, Christopher Bryce, review of The Birth of Time, p. 1421; October 1, 2000, Gilbert Taylor, review of Stardust: Supernovae and Life: The Cosmic Connection, p. 308; June 1, 2002, George Eberhart, review of Extraterrestrial Life and How to Find It, p. 1655; October 15, 2003, Gilbert Taylor, review of The Scientists: A History of Science Told through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors, p. 365; October 1, 2004, George Cohen, review of FitzRoy: The Remarkable Story of Darwin's Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast, p. 289.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 1989, review of Cosmic Coincidences, p. 893; August 1, 1992, review of Unveiling the Edge of Time, p. 963; June 15, 1993, review of In the Beginning, p. 766; September 1, 2003, review of The Scientists, p. 1112.

Kliatt, fall, 1986, review of In Search of the Big Bang, p. 67.

Lancet, December 21, 2002, Catherine Halcrow, "A Canter through the Story of Science," p. 2095.

Library Journal, March 1, 1987, review of In Search of the Big Bang, p. 30; September 1, 1988, review of The Hole in the Sky, p. 79; March 1, 1989, Ellis Mount and Barbara A. List, review of The Hole in the Sky, p. 42; March 1, 1990, Richard Shotwell, review of Children of the Ice, p. 110; May 15, 1990, Richard Shotwell, review of Hothouse Earth, p. 92; March 1, 1991, review of Children of the Ice, p. 62; March 1, 1992, Doug Kranch, review of The Matter Myth, p. 114; May 1, 1992, Gregg Sapp, review of Stephen Hawking, p. 92; October 1, 1992, Gregg Sapp, review of Unveiling the Edge of Time, p. 113; July, 1993, Gregg Sapp, review of In the Beginning, p. 112; March 1, 1994, Hilary D. Burton, review of Einstein, p. 96; May 1, 1995, Jack W. Weigel, review of Schroedinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality, p. 126; March 1, 2000, review of The Birth of Time, p. 125; November 1, 2003, James Olson, review of The Scientists, p. 120; September 1, 2004, Dale Farris, review of FitzRoy: The Remarkable Story of Darwin's Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast, p. 168.

Nature, February 28, 1985, review of In Search of Schroedinger's Cat, p. 824; August 7, 1986, review of In Search of the Big Bang, p. 505; November 19, 1987, review of The Omega Point, p. 294; January 2, 1992, review of Blinded by the Light, p. 29; April 2, 1992, review of Blinded by the Light, p. 396; March 25, 1993, review of Unveiling the Edge of Time, p. 302; June 9, 1994, review of In the Beginning, p. 454.

New Scientist, December 9, 1989, review of Father to the Man, p. 54; February 10, 1990, review of The Stuff of the Universe, p. 59; March 31, 1990, review of Winds of Change, p. 62; May 4, 1991, review of The Stuff of the Universe, p. 44; June 8, 1991, review of Blinded by the Light, p. 49; October 5, 1991, review of Reunion, p. 51; December 25, 1993, review of Innervisions, p. 62.

New Yorker, September 8, 1986, review of In Search of the Big Bang, p. 132.

New York Times, June 5, 1979, Harold M. Schmeck, review of This Shaking Earth.

New York Times Book Review, January 27, 1980; October 25, 1980; May 4, 1986, John Maddox, review of In Search of the Big Bang, p. 35; June 7, 1992, Jeremy Bernstein, "The Second Coming of Einstein?," p. 12; November 29, 1992, Hans Christian von Baeyer, "In Search of Frozen Stars," p. 9; August 29, 1993, Dennis Overbye, "Two Bowls of Cosmic Porridge," pp. 14-15; December 5, 1993, review of In the Beginning, p. 76; September 18, 1994, Robert Kanigel, "Famous for Being Einstein," pp. 11-12; January 15, 1995, review of In the Beginning, p. 28; June 11, 1995, review of In the Beginning, p. 60; July 16, 1995, Ann Finkbeiner, "Competing Universes," p. 24.

Observer, December 1, 1985, review of In Search of Schroedinger's Cat, p. 17; June 29, 1986, review of In Search of the Big Bang, p. 23; April 15, 1990, review of Hothouse Earth, p. 60; October 14, 1990, review of Hothouse Earth, p. 64; July 3, 1994, review of In the Beginning, p. 29.

Publishers Weekly, May 13, 1988, review of The One Percent Advantage, p. 260; July 14, 1989, Penny Kaganoff, review of Cosmic Coincidences, p. 70; December 13, 1991, review of The Matter Myth, p. 50; April 13, 1992, review of Stephen Hawking, p. 48; August 24, 1992, review of Unveiling the Edge of Time, p. 67; June 21, 1993, review of In the Beginning, p. 95; January 31, 1994, review of Einstein, p. 71; November 28, 1994, review of In the Beginning, p. 59; April 17, 1995, review of Schroedinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality, p. 46; November 6, 1995, review of Darwin, p. 78; March 27, 2000, review of The Birth of Time, p. 60; September 11, 2000, review of Star-dust: Supernovae and Life: The Cosmic Connection, p. 76; September 29, 2003, review of The Scientists, p. 53; August 23, 2004, review of FitzRoy, p. 51.

Reference and Resource Book News, April, 1989, review of The One Percent Advantage, p. 9; August, 1990, review of Children of the Ice, p. 9.

Times Educational Supplement, January 10, 1986, review of In Search of the Double Helix, p. 26; November 13, 1987, review of The Omega Point, p. 28; July 15, 1988, review of The Hole in the Sky, p. 23; September 9, 1988, review of The One Percent Advantage, p. 31; November 16, 1990, review of The Hole in the Sky, p. R1; May 15, 1992, review of In Search of the Edge of Time, p. 6; May 28, 1993, review of In the Beginning, p. 10.

Times Literary Supplement, December 27, 1974; May 4, 1986, p. 35; August 1, 1986, review of In Search of the Double Helix, p. 836; December 12, 1986, Colin Ronan, review of In Search of the Big Bang, p. 1407; February 25, 1994, review of In the Beginning, pp. 5-6.

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